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In January 2006 I took the train from London to Dover, where I extensively toured Dover Castle, an amazing place that reeks with history going back 2,000 years. In 1939, with war imminent, exisitng tunnels dug during the Napoleonic era were upgraded and expanded. After the Fall of France, Dover was considered to be the front line of British resistance, and the place most likely to be invaded during Operation Sea Lion, the German inviasion of Britain. Fortunately for the Dover residents, that never happened. Instead, Dover was subjected to a punishing air bombardment; with France only 22 miles away, German heavy railway guns with 45,000 yards range were targeting the city by July 1940. British counterparts, while not as capable, we installed in August 1940, and soon the two sides would exchange fire regularly. Thousands of bombs and shells fell on Dover throughout the war.
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The two levels of Napoleonic tunnels - a topside-accessed medical level (“Annexe”), a second level (“Bastion”) and an operations level (“Casement”) - were lined with sheet metal and had modern conveniences like eletricity and telephones. By 1943 a fourth set of tunnels (“DUMPY - Deep Underground Military Position Yellow”) was planned as well as a fifth level (“Esplanade,” an air raid shetler.) DUMPY wasn't completed until after the war, when it was finished as a command center for a nuclear attack on Britain, with a TV studio, local/regional government facilities, and even more digging. Only the “Annexe” and “Casement” levels are accessible due to a lack of preservation funds and an inability to access the third level by disabled visitors. An airshaft has been converted into an elevator for the medical level and the operations level. From these tunnels, Admiral Sir Bertrand Ramsey and his staff planned the naval evaacuation of Dunkerque in 1940, and the return to Normandy in 1944.
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18th Century Entrance Tickets and Waiting Room Tunnel to Hospital Surface Entrance to Hospital Hospital Sign Hospital corridor Hospital corridor Gas Attack! Infirmary Surgery Surgery Annex E Air Shaft Telephone Room Admiral Ramsay's Office Command and Control Ramsay's Office Command and Control
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Infirmary Surgery Surgery Annex E Air Shaft Telephone Room Admiral Ramsay's Office Command and Control Ramsay's Office Command and Control
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